Science & Technology

August 17, 2015

In Brazil, the instant messaging app Whatsapp reigns supreme, with an estimated 45 million users. It's been a game-changer in making personal communication cheaper and easier, as well as affecting how politics and journalism work. Just this past weekend, major newspapers like Estado de São Paulo and Folha de São Paulo used Whatsapp to crowdsource the anti-government protests taking place across the country.

But because of the speed and popularity of the app, it has been used to spread false information and even abet violent crime.

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In June, a rumor began circulating on Whatsapp that President Dilma Rousseff had tried to kill herself. (See image on the left) The information was wholly untrue, but the president took it upon herself to address the rumor publicly. "I just came to speak to you all today because they said a little while ago that there was a rumor going around that I was hospitalized," she said to the press. "Do you all think that I was?"

Anti-government protests have been largely organized through social media, including Whatsapp. But the reasoning behind the pro-impeachment movement have not always been legitimate, legal reasons for backing an actual removal of a president. In some cases complaints have to do with the economic crisis, like rising gas and electricity prices and government spending. (See below)

Plus, Whatsapp has been used by police as a way to allegedly plan revenge killings, including massacres in the past year in Belém, Manaus, and last week in São Paulo. Police have used the app to share addresses of suspects and photos of victims. Brazilian security publication Ponte described Whatsapp as "adding fuel to the fire" of revenge killings by police. Whatsapp use by São Paulo police as a parallel system of communication for organizing reprisals was well documented by Vice Brazil in April, and is worth a read for those with a strong stomach.

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The app has also been used by police and drug traffickers alike in Rio. Although I was unable to confirm their veracity, since those who showed me the messages were afraid to try to trace them, I heard three voice memos sent over Whatsapp in recent weeks that, real or not, help spread a sense of fear about the city's security. The first was from an alleged policeman involved in the capture and killing of the notorious drug trafficker Playboy this month in Rio. In the audio, he describes the action and chuckles as he describes Playboy alive on the way to the hospital and then arriving there dead. Record News also reported this audio circulating but could not confirm its veracity.

Another message came from an alleged drug trafficker saying there would be attacks in the city to avenge Playboy's death. Apparently there were a slew of these types of messages circulating on Whatsapp, enough for the police to investigate and try to trace them. Another audio clip I heard came from an alleged Rio policeman also talking about the aftermath of Playboy's death.

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That said, there's a lot of interesting and constructive ways Brazilians are using Whatsapp. And even the police have used the app to fightcrime rather than commit it. But it's something to keep an eye on as social media becomes more ubiquitous in daily life in Brazil.

April 24, 2015

If you follow Brazil and you're on Twitter, you likely know Sérgio Charlab, a Brazilian journalist who does an incredible job of aggregating news about Brazil in English. He's incredibly agile at sharing and condensing both breaking news headlines and the best enterprise stories.

Now, he's testing out a new distribution service on Whatsapp - the first Brazilian broadcast news service on the chat app. He sends top stories throughout the day, as well as the front pages of the major Brazilian newspapers each morning. Each headline comes with an image and authors' Twitter handles, making it easy to reshare on Twitter.

Charlab is a veteran Brazilian digital journalist. Three decades ago, he used HTML, a novelty back then, to get Jornal do Brasil online, making it the first Brazilian newspaper on the web. During that time, Online Journalism Review named him as one of the "50 International Names to Know" in digital news. He's had a long career in newspapers and magazines, as well as publishing two books. He's always liked to combine his passion for journalism and technology.

Via email, I asked Charlab about his work on Twitter and Whatsapp to understand his strategy.

How long have you been doing the @scharlab Twitter, and why did you start it?

I started sharing Brazil related news regularly in 2012. It was the visible part of my attempt to understand and partially automate all human judgements related to finding, reading, evaluating and sharing news.

Why did you decide to start the Whatsapp service?

Since the 1990s, (now defunct) Pointcast there have been countless services with the ambition to define "The Future of Online Publishing." Twitter may have been the one that came closest to the way this elusive future is shaped in my mind. Unfortunately, that still unreachable goal alone can't sustain Twitter investors' eagerness to get value for their money in this competitive field.

As Twitter expands its focus of attention, it loses part of that journalistic appeal and dilutes its heft as a tool to share news. At the same time, 'one to one' services like Snapchat or Facebook's WhatsApp not only now grow faster than Twitter, but also have been adding "one to many" tools. That allows one person/organization to directly distribute content to many. I was waiting for this effervescent moment, and as soon as WhatsApp also launched a web version I knew it was time to start playing more seriously with it.

Courtesy of Sérgio Charlab.

How do you divide your time between WhatsApp and Twitter? How do you decide what goes on which platform?

To feed Twitter, I've developed a plethora of tools/ways to find news content to aggregate. Those who follow the Twitter handle know that, if I wish, hardly a piece of content or tidbit data on Brazil escapes me. What many don't know, is that I also developed a capacity to gather this content very quickly after it gets published online originally.

I read or parse all data, instead of just resharing as is very common online. Once I get content suitable to aggregate, I schedule it for the next appropriate time spot on Twitter—but share it immediately for the WhatsApp subscribers. They get it first and can even reshare themselves from WhatsApp to Twitter, even before the time I do it myself.

I have plenty of data from almost 50,000 tweets sharing news to understand how Twitter works best for most news consumer users. It may be surprisingly counterintuitive. I'm now doing the same with WhatsApp. I start with preconceptions which I expect to test, adapting the daily feed to the discoveries made by usage. For instance, at least for now, WhatsApp users instantly get the most "powerful" news, tidbits. These will be in much lower numbers than a regular day of posts on Twitter. Of course, WhatsApp users can always block the broadcast or silence the notifications for a while. The free WhatsApp subscription is harmless.

Do you think messenger services like Whatsapp will ultimately be more useful than Twitter for news delivery? Why or why not?

There's a shining moment for everything. Email is obviously suitable for the same "one to many" news distribution I'm doing through WhatsApp. But it has long lost its mojo. Twitter's mojo is entirely based on its enviable base of news sources and celebrities. But you already see Twitter somewhat desperately trying to keep both groups at bay—a difficult task in the exciting new apps/services launching times in which we live.

Through WhatsApp (or also Facebook’s Messenger or any new similar service) you are directly in touch with your subscribers, who of course have enough confidence in what you do to allow you to reach them in their personal mobile space. This is no small matter. Because of that, I'm very committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information of the WhatsApp readership.

Subscribers are protected by anonymity in regard to other subscribers. Only I know they're receiving the news broadcast. And differently than a WhatsApp group, in the WhatsApp broadcast if you reply to any post it won't be addressed to the group of subscribers—only to me. This kind of exchange can quickly evolve to a deeper level of personalization that would allow both service producer and subscriber to control the flow to the news consumer’s individual needs.

Ultimately, I want to give news lovers the flow of information I had dreamt for myself. Curated by great editorial minds that go through everything in detail to find and share, directly to me, what I need and what I would love to know, in the timing and frequency I appreciate best and in a format I can easily and quickly share with others.

Follow Charlab on Twitter at @scharlab and get on his Whatsapp list by emailing scharlab at gmail dot com.

January 12, 2015

As Brazil's smartphone market grows, so has the demand for texting apps, and Whatsapp currently reigns supreme. The app, which allows users to send SMS messages using Wifi or phone data, has shifted how many Brazilians share information.

Brazilians have taken to the service not only as a substitute for text messaging, but also as a social network, sharing content like memes and viral photos and videos. It's even a stand-in for talking on the phone, letting users send voice recordings. It's an incredible change considering that less than two decades ago in Brazil, it could take years to get a home phone installed.

Still, not everyone is a fan of the app. Search for "revoltado Whatsapp" on Youtube and you'll find numerous examples of people fed up with Whatsapp, including videos that have circulated on the app itself. In one, a man complains that the app is endangering his marriage, since his wife gets constant Whatsapp alerts at all hours of the night.

Aside from its use as a social network, Whatsapp has also stood out as a tool in politics, journalism, and transparency. Here are some recent examples.

The video above featuring presidential candidate Aécio Neves was one of the most popular pieces of content circulated during the elections. His party, the PSDB, realized the power of the network and created 33 pieces of content exclusively for Whatsapp during the campaign. "We circulated some content to groups of party faithfuls before the first Globo debate, and they shared them with their contacts. It blew up," the PSDB's digital strategy coordinator told VEJA. President Dilma Rousseff's team also used Whatsapp early in the campaign, as well as ramping up messaging ahead of the vote.

Journalism

Some news outlets are using Whatsapp as a means to crowdsource stories, as well as gettings tips about breaking news and potential leads. Sites include Folha de São Paulo, Band, O Dia, and Extra, among others.

Rio's Extra is was one of the pioneers in using Whatsapp as a journalistic tool, and has used the app well to aid reporting.

The newspaper launched their Whatsapp project in June 2013. The website has frequently advertised its Whatsapp contact numbers, asking readers to send tips, videos, and photos.

Since it launched the project, Extra received over 1 million messages and more than 60,000 files, including photos, video, and audio. As a result, the newspaper published over 500 stories in its print edition and more than 1,000 online. With so much content, the paper built an entire Whatsapp section with stories using tips and information sent through the app.

Readers have submitted a wide variety of tips, from potholes to crimes to rescues. It was Extra, for example, that reported drug traffickers shooting automatic weapons during a pick-up game before the World Cup. Sometimes, a story contains just a quote or a first-person account from Whatsapp; other times, the whole story is based on a tip.

September 30, 2014

Today, the social network that used to dominate Brazil shuts down permanently. Orkut, the first social media site to gain massive traction there, will allow users to export their photos and information, but Google will discontinue the site. Launched in 2004, the network gained popularity in Brazil, reaching around 40 million Brazilian active accounts at its peak in 2008. In December 2013, the site only had 6 million hits; Facebook, now the country's biggest social media site, had 67 million hits during the same period.

Orkut was significant because it was Brazil's first major social network that became popular as many Brazilians were getting online for the first time. As such, it was a tool that aided "digital literacy" as Brazilians began using email, instant messaging, and file-sharing.

Now, Facebook dominates, with an estimated 85 percent of Brazilian internet users on the network. With Orkut gone, it gives Facebook an opportunity to grow even more.

October 14, 2013

There are even more interesting things happening in Brazil this month, so I decided to write a follow-up to my list from last month. Thanks to several readers who made suggestions about some of these points.

4. Dengue vaccine: Instituto Butantan, one of the world's most important biomedical research centers, will begin human trials this month of a dengue vaccine. It was previously tested in the United States, and if results are good, the vaccine could be approved for use in Brazil. Learn more from G1

3. Major oil discovery: Along with the much-anticipated pre-salt auctions
taking place in October, the Brazilian government will reportedly
announce "the world's largest oil discovery of 2013" next week. The
newly discovered field off the coast of Sergipe could produce up to
100,000 barrels a day. Learn more from the WSJ

2. Mensalão defendants behind bars: Now that 12 of the defendants
in the mensalão case get a chance at further appeals, Brazil's biggest
corruption scandal continues to drag on. However, this month, the
Supreme Court could make a decision about when some of the defendants
will be sent to prison. Learn more from Zero Hora

1. PEC 215: This month, Brazil's Congress is slated to
vote on a constitutional amendment that would transfer the power to
demarcate indigenous lands from FUNAI (the government body responsible for indigenous rights) to the legislative
branch. Some tribes are staging protests throughout the country to
protest the bill, which they say will give even more power to agribusiness
interests. Learn more from EBC

September 25, 2013

With October almost upon us, here are five things happening next month to watch for in Brazil.

5. Domestic Smartphone Apps: Starting in October, smartphones that qualify for government tax breaks must come with at least 5 Brazilian-made apps. In order to receive a tax break--making the smartphones cheaper for consumers--the phone must have 3G, wifi, and an operationing system that allows third-party apps; must be produced in Brazil; must cost less than $1,500; and must have 5 Brazilian apps pre-installed or shown to the user with the possibility for download. The domestic app requirement will be increased over time and by the end of 2014, the requirement will go up to 50 Brazilian apps. These apps must be in Portuguese, can deal with anything ranging from education to public services to games, and must be approved by the Ministry of Communications. Learn more here

3. Internet Constitution: After President Dilma Rousseff put a rush on the country's proposed "Internet Constitution" in September following the NSA spying revelations, Congress will have to vote on the legislation next month. Along with requirements for local data storage of websites like Facebook and Google, the bill also guarantees net neutrality. Learn more here

2. Mining Code: Brazil's Congress is slated to vote on the country's new mining code between October 15 and 20. (There's a chance it will be stuck in the House for awhile, though) The legislation will be the first change to the country's mining rules since the 1960s. Learn more here

1. Oil Auction: The long-awaited auction of Brazil's Libra pre-salt oil field--estimated to hold billions of barrels of oil--takes place on October 21. Eleven companies are signed up for the auction. Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company which has a 30 percent stake in the field, turns 60 in October. Learn more here

May 01, 2013

Alessandra Orofino is one of those people who identifies a problem and immediately starts planning possible solutions. She's an organizer, which is complicated in the digital age given the speed with which you can connect to a huge audience, but also given the ease of clicking "like" on Facebook can limit people's willingness to do much else. By using web and mobile technology, Orofino is not only helping organize Cariocas, but is helping change the way Cariocas interact with and influence public policy. And she's only 23.

I spoke to the co-founder and executive director of the Meu Rio organization, and she told me about how it all began and her goals for changing how Cariocas influence decision-making in Rio.

The Origins of Meu Rio

Orofino's big idea came from her different experiences abroad and at home. She grew up in Rio, and lived in Montreal for part of her adolescence. She got a scholarship to study political science in Paris, but after a year at a training ground for French public officials, she decided to go back to Rio. In Brazil, she began working for Promundo, an advocacy group against gender-based violence and violence against children. There, she gained experience in campaigning.

After that, she went India to work on gender-based violence research. In New Delhi, she worked with a local NGO and interviewed victims of violence. “I knew that I wanted to work with organizing because one of the things that were most striking to me in India was that every one of the girls I talked to felt so lonely,” Orofino said. Through her experience, she knew there was a community of people with the power to change things, while there was a lack of public policy action happening. She wanted to organize, but couldn't do that in a research role.

Her next step was to go to Columbia, where she got a scholarship to study economics. But before she left, she had an important conversation with a high school friend, Miguel Lago. It was in 2008, right after Fernando Gabeira had lost the Rio mayoral election to Eduardo Paes. Gabeira had a really interesting campaign, said Orofino, that was “pretty bold” in its premise and execution; he lost by a small margin. A group of young people were engaged in his campaign, but felt frustrated after the election, almost wanting the city not to work and "for everything to go to hell." Lago and Orofino discussed the fact that the energy of these young people wasn’t being channeled toward the good of the city to build something positive. They talked about how to organize people in Rio to become "a real power toward accountability, transparency, and participation in government, regardless of who was in power," explained Orofino. They wanted to create a voice for the city that wasn't subject to the electoral cycle.

So Orofino got to work, examining organizing efforts work in other parts of the world. She discovered Get Up, the biggest political movement in Australia that uses new and innovative tools to organize people. Jeremy Heimans, the founder of Get Up, was moving to NYC to start a new organization called Purpose just as Orofino was about to start at Columbia. Two weeks after arriving in New York, she knocked on his door, and he hired her. After starting at Purpose, she found the perfect place to incubate an organization in Rio. After working at the organization in New York, she went back to Rio to open Purpose's Brazil office and start fundraising for her own organization. At the end of 2011, Meu Rio was born.

Channeling the Power of Technology to Mobilize Cariocas

Meu Rio is an online platform that allows Cariocas to have a say in what's happening in the city. "We think about our work as translating public policy issues into a language that is understandable to broader society and young people," said Orofino. The site gives people an opportunity to act on things they think are important, and allows both organizers and users to identify areas for change and action. Meu Rio has a team dedicated to researching public policy so they can mobilize people effectively.

There are a number of different components to the organization. First, there are online petitions, on both Meu Rio and on a subsite called Panela de Pressão. This site allows petitioners to email the responsible party directly when they sign a petition. Meu Rio also does video and design work, creating short clips and infographics to explain public policy. The organization also has a blog called Blog de Olho, which serves as a watchdog for the city council. Meu Rio sends a person to cover what's happening there every day; not even the media does that anymore, Orofino points out.

Keeping an eye on the city council has helped inspire campaigns. One, for example, demanded open data from the city council. It gave in, and by July their data should be accessible. Another came out of the state legislature. Meu Rio discovered that a state-level bill had been introduced at the last minute to change the city's environmental codes. It would give the executive the power to choose which projects would go through an environmental licensing process, and which would be exempt. The criteria for deciding which ventures would be exempt would not be released to the public, nor would the bill be discussed with civil society. "It was an open door for corruption," said Orofino. The vote was due to take place the same day, but Meu Rio mobilized quickly and got 7,000 people to sign a petition and several hundred people to call their legislators. Around 150 people showed up to the vote. The legislators got scared and didn't vote, and just days later, the governor killed the bill, saying it was flawed.

Meu Rio uses technology not only to mobilize, but to have a direct impact. Last year, an eight-year-old student wrote to Meu Rio about her school, the Escola Municipal Friedenreich. It has around 300 students, and is one of the best public schools in the country along with specialized staff and facilities for the disabled. The city had decided to demolish the school to build a parking lot for the nearby Maracanã Stadium. There was no plan to rebuild the school or transfer the students, and the parents only found out through the local news.

So the organization set up a campaign to save the school and got 20,000 signatures on a petition. The campaign started attracting media attention, but even the secretary of education--who Meu Rio met with--didn't know what to do. So Meu Rio decided to try a new tactic. They set up a webcam at an apartment across the street from the school, and monitored the school 24/7 through a website with a live feed from the camera. People could sign up to be a "guardian" of the school and watch the feed, and if bulldozers showed up, those watching could press a red button to contact Meu Rio, which would send out text messages to followers in order to physically protect the school. Around 3,000 people signed up to watch the school, and using analytics, Meu Rio discovered that for the two months of the campaign, not a minute passed that someone wasn't watching the school. Public officials realized it would be a PR disaster to demolish the school, said Orofino, and gave up. The school will stay through 2013, and should it be demolished, a new school will be built in the same neighborhood.

Building a Movement: Next Steps

Meu Rio is working on three different objectives, aside from their mission. First, they're trying to grow their membership base. Any time someone takes an action on the website--be it signing a petition or signing up for an event--they have to register with their email address. After only a year and a half of existence, Meu Rio has 100,000 members who have acted on at least one campaign. Around 80,00 have acted on more than one campaign, and about half are ages 20-29.

The next step is fundraising. Orofino participated in initial fundraising rounds from around 80 individuals and a few local foundations. But it's not easy to be a non-profit in Brazil without receiving funding from government agencies or public companies. Since Meu Rio doesn't want to compromise its work, it can't receive money from the government or political parties. Now, it's trying to diversify its sources of funding, and started a campaign in April to allow people to give in smaller amounts online and to give monthly donations. Around 350 people signed up to give monthly, and Orofino wants to get to 1,000 this year. The goal is to be completely member-funded within three years, she explained.

The last step is becoming a completely independent organization. Meu Rio was incubated by Purpose, which is still an incubation partner and is technically the employer for some staff members.

Orofino's Rio de Janeiro

I asked Orofino about a worthy issue in Rio that doesn't get a lot of attention. Sanitation, she explained, is an invisible problem and a "perfect failure." Fifty percent of Cariocas lack sanitation, be it safe piped water or a connection to the sanitation system. Not only is it a public health risk, but an environmental risk for the whole city, Orofino pointed out, given that sewage ends up in the ocean or in someone's backyard. Since pipes run underground, it doesn't create electoral capital, since no one will see it. It's not as visible as other public projects, and it's not a terribly sexy issue.

Meu Rio has a campaign to change how CEDAE, the city's water and sanitation company, works. Its president, who has been there for a long time, has unchecked powers, since CEDAE isn't regulated by other government agencies. This allows the president to make major decisions, like changing the price of water or making changes to the sanitation system without any regulation or consultation. Meu Rio's campaign is still ongoing.

On the other hand, I asked her why people should be excited about Rio. For Cariocas, she said, "there’s a tremendous window of opportunity that is open now and will close soon." With lots of investment and attention, "Rio has the timing, resources, and momentum to tackle its historical challenges," she noted. The eyes of the world watching, too, she said. Since that's not always the case, Cariocas should use that to improve sanitation, education, urban mobility, and other obstacles to development.

For foreigners, Rio provides an "amazing laboratory," said Orofino. It's a city of contrasts that can remind one of Paris in one neighborhood or Nairobi in another. "What happens in Rio is relevant to the developed and developing worlds," she explained. Seeing what's happening in innovation and startups could be useful for people to implement all over the world. Plus, Rio is an easy city to feel at home in. "Rio has the willingness to lend its identity to whoever lands here," Orofino told me.

Finally, I asked about what will happen when the mega-events end. For Meu Rio, the work won’t change. "The most important thing will be to make sure that after the party is over, the people who are here are able to keep participating in the life of their city," Orofino said. "We talk about the infrastructure and social legacy of the Olympics, but not enough about democratic legacy. What does it do for democracy and participation? If we use those opportunities to create a culture of accountability and participation, that’s something that can then live on long after this window of opportunity is gone."